TWENTY FOUR: Pants

"That's not good enough!!"

Kel roared, brandishing her pillow as a weapon.

After living out her imaginings of pummeling the Emperor with a pillow, she finally dragged the details of his plan out of the stubborn man.

Apparently, he had planned for them to depart with the caravan as normal and break away discreetly when they had reached a certain distance from Halseva. At that point, his First General would take over as a stand-in and continue leading everyone to Vitocia. If necessary, he, along with the Emperor's shadow guard, would handle any issues that arose in the Western Kingdom.

"It's difficult to tell because we're so far south, but autumn has only just begun," Calix yawned. "We will have plenty of time to get to the White Mountains."

"Was all of that really so hard to tell me?" Kel rolled her eyes, settling back into the bed.

Calix, for the first time since Kel woke him, opened his eyes, his face growing serious.